Grayscale
by Anonymous Human
Summary: A series of very short chapters recounting incidents over the course of Kyo's childhood. All of these are very, very loosely based on trivia about cats, although some liberties are taken for dramatic effect.
1. Color

**Disclaimer: **Fruits Basket is the property of Natsuki Takaya. The following is a work of fanfiction loosely based on that property. This work is unofficial.

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><p><strong>Color<strong>

The expression Kyo had always heard was "seeing red." People would get angry and "see red."

He never understood it. When Kyo got angry—truly angry—he saw only black and white; all color faded to gray, and everything sharpened.

As a child, he once had a conversation about it with Hatsuharu on the playground: after making the mandatory jokes about "seeing only black and white," Haru pointed out that when Kyo was in a rage (usually at Haru, but sometimes at the Rat they both despised) his eyes changed color, and his pupils changed shape.

Kyo was horrified and his right hand fidgeted with his left wrist, making sure the bracelet he hated so much was still there.

It was only much later that he remembered that transforming into a cat had an identical effect on his vision: he could see in the dark—and the world became a cold, joyless place devoid of color.

Kyo was very sick when it happened; it wasn't as if anyone was ever going to hug him.

After the color finally returned to his vision, Kyo told himself that he wouldn't let anyone hug him ever again.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> further research (conducted after this chapter was written) indicates that cats can differentiate colors on the blue/violet end of the visible spectrum, but have difficulties with red-through-green.


	2. Sweet

**Disclaimer: **Fruits Basket is the property of Natsuki Takaya. The following is a work of fanfiction loosely based on that property. This work is unofficial.

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><p><strong>Sweet<strong>

Kyo never liked chocolate. He would eat it if forced, but never willingly, and he usually felt rather ill for a period afterward.

He remembered the first time he tried it, as a young child. He had never had candy of any sort before (his mother wouldn't let him have candy) and had never seen it before (his mother wouldn't let him watch television anymore) but the other kids (the ones who made fun of his hair) seemed to _love_ the stuff.

Kyo's first instinct was to avoid it simply because his tormentors liked it, but it seemed to make them happy and Kyo desperately wanted to be happy too. People told him it tasted good.

One day he was offered a chocolate candy bar; solid milk chocolate in a foil wrapper. After getting help tearing the package open, Kyo took a bite.

It was crunchy, crumbly and flavorless. When Kyo was much younger, he had once put a birthday candle in his mouth.

The chocolate bar tasted like wax. Kyo spat it out in disgust, furious that he had been tricked into tasting such a vile thing.

And after the color finally returned to his vision, Kyo told himself that he wouldn't eat chocolate ever again.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> Chocolate itself is actually toxic to cats. Do not allow your cats to have it.


	3. Allium

**Disclaimer: **Fruits Basket is the property of Natsuki Takaya. The following is a work of fanfiction loosely based on that property. This work is unofficial.

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><p><strong>Allium<strong>

Kyo was 6 years old when he first tasted them. He was eating a dinner with Kazuma—takeout because the man could not cook—comprised of overcooked fish and pan-fried negi. Kyo was excited about the fish, but the negi looked decidedly unappetizing.

"They're good for you," he was told. Kyo put one in his mouth, and chewed thoughtfully for a moment; he decided fairly quickly that negi did not taste very good, and said as much. Eventually, he grudgingly ate a small portion of them because he was a good boy.

The following morning Kyo fell ill.

The sun was shining but Kyo was in a daze; he felt like it was raining outside, despite the fact that he could see sunlight through his window. But Kyo didn't feel well at all, had little appetite, and felt unnaturally tired.

Some part of Kyo didn't want to stay in bed all day; bed was boring. But he wasn't certain he wanted to get up either (and when he really admitted it to himself he didn't really feel like doing anything) and that bothered him. Eventually things became bad enough that Kazuma found an orange cat lying almost unmoving in his adopted son's bed.

Eventually, through diet and rest, Kyo recovered and reverted back to human form. From that point onward the boy associated the unpleasant taste of the vegetable with illness.

And after the color finally returned to his vision, Kyo told himself that he wouldn't eat leeks ever again.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> Onions and garlic are bad too.


End file.
